Eat at Home savings not as big as expected

[mrsklamc]

Home Depot was horrible to me when I was replacing my countertops /backsplash, and I will NEVER set foot in their store again. First, they didn't want to talk to me -- I should've walked away, but I liked the product they had. FINALLY I got someone to come over to my house and measure. FINALLY I got someone scheduled to come over and do the installation . . . and on the day it was supposed to happen -- after I'd cleared literally everything out of my whole kitchen -- the installer said, "Oh, these products won't work in your space." MONTHS WASTED on them. They didn't even apologize when they refunded my money.

NEVER AGAIN.

We won't do business with them either. We needed a new hot water heater, went, scheduled the appointment, and left. On the drive home they called and said it would be an additional $150 for 'holiday' installation.

"But it's not a holiday."
"It is. It's New Year's Eve."
"No...tomorrow is the 30th. New Year's Eve, eve, is not a holiday."

This is the conversation we had when we FINALLY walked into the store and physically waited for a manager after being on hold forever following multiple promises that a manager would call US.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I second the comment to use coupon mom. That website is awesome. I have a suggestion for another cookbook too. Any of the Jamie Oliver cookbooks are good. Very easy to follow and common ingredients. My favorite is Food Revolution

 

[allmydisneydreams]

OP - I don't have time right now to read the entire thread, so I apologize if this was mentioned - but do you have Aldi near you? I don't know how we afforded food before we found Aldi !!! I am like you, sort of transitioning from a micro cook to more real/healthy stuff. There are lots of "convenience" foods at Aldi for probably 1/2 of what the grocery charges. Great cheap cereals, snacks, cheeses, fruits, etc. I've been shopping there about a year and am just starting to try to do some more homemade stuff. They don't have everything , but I do a big chunk of my shopping there.

Also - prices do depend on where you live. We are in South Jersey and milk was 3.89 in Wal-Mart today. Usually 3.00 or so in Aldi. I am amazed when I read what others in various regions across the country are paying for milk & groceries. It is definitely difficult to be frugal in an overpriced region. But , like you, I am working on it ... LOVE some of the suggestions in this thread

 

[annsteere]

Wow. I thought eating at home would be cheaper. LOL. The past two full weeks we have spent about $200 a week for our family of 4 (DH, Me & DS7, DS5).

Broken down it seems quite reasonable for 3 meals & snacks per person for roughly 6 days ($8 a day per person), but as a whole it seems expensive when we were paying around $150 a week before my hubby brown bagged lunch ($30 a week) and we cut out 2-3 additional eating out ($30-40). So we are saving around $10-$20 a week - not that big of a difference. But at least it's healthier, right? We didn't do salad every night while we ate greasy french fries from McD's.

There is some really confusing math here. If you look at just your food costs, and let it even out over a month, it should get cleared.

"2-3 eating out ($30-40)." I assume that $30-40 is per meal. 4 people times 3 meals is 12 meals and 12 meals for $30 is some pretty mediocre food.

If you spent $30-40 on a homecooked meal, it would be a very high end dinner.

Hang in there. The savings will show up.

 

[JamesMom]

There is some really confusing math here. If you look at just your food costs, and let it even out over a month, it should get cleared.

"2-3 eating out ($30-40)." I assume that $30-40 is per meal. 4 people times 3 meals is 12 meals and 12 meals for $30 is some pretty mediocre food.

If you spent $30-40 on a homecooked meal, it would be a very high end dinner.

Hang in there. The savings will show up.

OP here,

As far eating out - we do it cheaply. The figure of $30-40 is for the family for 2-3 meals total. Taco Bueno is $11 for dinner. McD's is $15. Chinese is $20. We almost exclusively get takeout so no drinks or tip on the way through the drive thru. The dollar menu is our friend. And DS5 rarely eats takeout outside of the nugget or tater tot so he eats super cheap out.
Now the eating out we still do runs about $60-70 for the week. $35 for Chili's or On the Border, $10 for McD breakfast or donuts, $20 for Pizza. And, yeah, that's for the family as we share enntrees. As the boys age, I am sure the figures will increase. But Saturday we got Babe's - got 4 pieces of fried chicken, huge chicken fried steak, large mashed potatos w/ gravy and creamed corned with salad - enough to feed 3 adults despite being 2 orders for about $25. Again. take out so no drink bill or tip.

Thanks again for the replies. Very encouraging and helpful. BTW- the fish was great last night

 

[JamesMom]

OP, here again.

I just wanted to comment on an unpleasant side effect of eating at home - dishes!! My goodness, I run the dish washer every other day and am constantly cleaning my kitchen. I guess the hot water, detergent and elbow grease need to be factored in there somewhere. Somedays I miss just wadding up fast food wrappers, chucking them in the trash and be done it. Instead I have soaking pans and an empty flatware drawer. It's the price you pay, right?

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

The thing is you can roast a chicken, make mashed potatoes, gravy, a salad and creamed corn for about $10. Pans are easier if you line them, or start them soaking immediately. I suppose you can use paper products if you really want to save work. Even factoring the cost of those or detergent still makes eating in better and better for you. Does the dollar menu have anything but the salad that is remotely good for you?

 

[Ava]

Ditto what Indiana Rose Lee said. We always line our pans with foil so they don't really need to be cleaned, just a quick rinse will do it. Also cook a double batch of something & freeze half. That way you only dirty the pots & pans once but get a few meals out of it. It is more work to cook at home, but once you get in the habit it's not a big deal. Another big plus of cooking at home is that you know exactly what is in your food. Your health & your wallet will be better for it in the long run.

 

[disykat]

Honestly, part of the appeal to me of cooking and cleaning up a meal is the memories I am making for my children and the skills I am teaching them. Maybe thinking of it that way will help? Add that to cost and nutritive value and it's hard to see how eating out most meals wins.

 

[kirstenb1]

Honestly, part of the appeal to me of cooking and cleaning up a meal is the memories I am making for my children and the skills I am teaching them. Maybe thinking of it that way will help? Add that to cost and nutritive value and it's hard to see how eating out most meals wins.

I love this post.

I cook 7 days a week. Not so much that I'm a great cook, but it's cheaper, my family is eating healthier, and my kids are growing up learning how to cook.

OP, if you stick with it, I guarantee all of you will reap the benefits.

 

[Ava]

Honestly, part of the appeal to me of cooking and cleaning up a meal is the memories I am making for my children and the skills I am teaching them. Maybe thinking of it that way will help? Add that to cost and nutritive value and it's hard to see how eating out most meals wins.

This is so true. My mom never really actively taught me how to cook (she tried, I wasn't interested) but I must've picked things up anyway since I'm not totally clueless in the kitchen. I can't make anything fancy but I can cook a decent meal & have some common sense when it comes to cooking.

My old roommate could hardly boil water and cooked everything - including grilled cheese sandwiches - on a George Foreman grill. Always made me laugh because she'd put a TON of cheese on since half of it would run off the sandwich.

 

[nancycg56]

Home Depot was horrible to me when I was replacing my countertops /backsplash, and I will NEVER set foot in their store again. First, they didn't want to talk to me -- I should've walked away, but I liked the product they had. FINALLY I got someone to come over to my house and measure. FINALLY I got someone scheduled to come over and do the installation . . . and on the day it was supposed to happen -- after I'd cleared literally everything out of my whole kitchen -- the installer said, "Oh, these products won't work in your space." MONTHS WASTED on them. They didn't even apologize when they refunded my money.

NEVER AGAIN.

When we first started thinking about remodeling our kitchen, we went through HD and then went home and googled Home Depot kitchen remodels (or something like that) and immediately crossed them off our list. We finally went with a place that does kitchens and baths exclusively and couldn't be happier. I can't even stand to walk in HD ~ I get weird vibes in there

 

[nancycg56]

OP, here again.

I just wanted to comment on an unpleasant side effect of eating at home - dishes!! My goodness, I run the dish washer every other day and am constantly cleaning my kitchen. I guess the hot water, detergent and elbow grease need to be factored in there somewhere. Somedays I miss just wadding up fast food wrappers, chucking them in the trash and be done it. Instead I have soaking pans and an empty flatware drawer. It's the price you pay, right?

I am not a fan of doing dishes either so I run my dishwasher every day ~ I set it up to run during the night so it's at a cheaper rate. And there are only 2 of us living here now ~ when the kids are home, I have been known to run it more than once a day.

It's so much better for you and your family in the long run!

 

[Alexander]

Geesh! I'm coming to defend the OP! If they went from eating out almost everyday to now trying to eat at home--Hamburger Helper is a start! I think you are on the right track! I HATE HATE HATE cooking, so I too need to do more cooking at home and less eating out! Now we have 2 celiacs in my family, cooking at home is necessary more than ever!

I do make a huge batch of pancakes on the weekend and freeze them in individual ziplock bags (2 in each bag). Then DS can grab one out and pop it in the microwave for breakfast. Sometimes I'll make a big potato salad that we can have with dinner for a couple of nights. I try to find things that are good for a couple of meals with just adding in some new meats or veggies to the menu.

I made a big batch of marinated grilled chicken the other day for dinner. Then we had the leftovers for Caesar salad the next night. If you can make things in bigger batches and have multiple uses for them, it helps a lot!

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

what does she need defending from? No one is attacking her, merely giving ideas based on her posts.

 

[Alexander]

Well, you have some out of season fruit - I only buy seasonal, like peaches in summer, apples in the fall, clementines around Thanksgiving - and a lot of processed food. Hamburger helper? Jarred sauce? That doesn't happen here. Seafood is always going to be expensive. You can make your own pancakes, and I've never bought cereal without a coupon and a sale.

I agree with the others. Your spending almost 1/3 of your money on snacks and beverages. That could come down if you work at it. And you will be healthier for it. Cut out the hamburger helper and cook from scratch. It will eliminate alot of salt and preservatives. Make your own spaghetti sauce and freeze portions. Buy your meat on sale and freeze it. I also see alot of carbs and too few veggies in your menu. Salad doesnt equal a veggie substitute. And corn is a grain just like rice. Its not a vegetable.

what does she need defending from? No one is attacking her, merely giving ideas based on her posts.

Never implied she was being attacked--Anyhow, the above early posts imply that Hamburger Helper is expensive and she would be better cooking from scratch. I was simply indicating that when you are making a big change such as the OP, having things like Hamburger Helper or frozen pancakes is a great way to get started.

 

[Soben]

I think that people get sensitive and have to one-up the OP a lot on here. If I say that I'm cooking at home, the next person has to be cooking all from scratch. If I say that I'm frugal and wash out baggies, the next person makes their own baggies from scraps. If I am saving 10% of my salary for retirement, the next poster is saving 110%. I guess it's the nature of the boards. As long as we're all moving forward, I figure it's good.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

ummm...the whole whole thread is about how cooking was not as cost efficient as eating out. People are merely showing how that is not the case and giving viable options that are.

 

[nancycg56]

I think that people get sensitive and have to one-up the OP a lot on here. If I say that I'm cooking at home, the next person has to be cooking all from scratch. If I say that I'm frugal and wash out baggies, the next person makes their own baggies from scraps. If I am saving 10% of my salary for retirement, the next poster is saving 110%. I guess it's the nature of the boards. As long as we're all moving forward, I figure it's good.

I'm not seeing that at all ~ more like "here is what I do..." or "try this..." There are some great ideas here. My rule of thumb on message boards ~ take what you need and leave the rest

 

[LilyWDW]

I'm not seeing that at all ~ more like "here is what I do..." or "try this..." There are some great ideas here. My rule of thumb on message boards ~ take what you need and leave the rest

I'm with ya Nancy... the other post has me quite confused as I am seeing none of that here.

I like to see all the suggestions on how to make things easier and cheaper. I personally don't stress about food budget because we actually budget more then many people do. That is our choice in how to spend our money. Though our costs have actually been going down now that I plan the meals ahead of time and am the one doing most of the cooking. I don't eat a ton of red meat (I eat it, but don't have to have it, kwim?) which has really saved us some money.

I do keep a stock of "convenience" type things in the pantry, but I only buy on sale. Hamburger Helper for $1 a box? I grab a few to have on hand for when ground beef goes on sale. We MAYBE have it once every 2 months or so, but it's up there just in case. Same with boxed mashed potatoes, pasta sides, rice sides, ect. Sometimes I just don't want to deal with it so I keep those on hand. BUT I never buy them unless they are on sale! They are not "worth" the extra cost at regular price to me.